Debut EP from wantedmissingfound

Coming out of Charleston in South Carolina, newcomer wantedmissingfound has arrived with a sound that’s intriguing and unlike any other. A new electronic artist working from a bedroom studio, they view music through an intensely experimental lens, drawing inspiration from no particular artist or established style. The project has been built around experimentation itself, turning analogue instruments, vocals, effects and even recording noise into source material.

Their wildly unique sound was first unveiled last month with the debut single “Nature Is Law,” quickly followed by the sophomore outing “Last Year.” Those first releases revealed an artist interested in finding their own sonic language and now, wantedmissingfound takes that idea further with Putting Down the Dog, a debut EP influenced by five difficult years of illness, instability, changing family relationships and loss.

The title provides the emotional starting point; Putting Down the Dog refers directly to the experience of losing their dog, an event that sits at the beginning of a dramatic downturn in the artist’s life. The EP is not merely an exercise in despair however, it captures the contradictory emotions of a period spent in free fall, where darkness and moments of joy can take shape alongside one another. That sense of instability becomes part of the aesthetic, with wantedmissingfound working with warped analogue synths, guitars and vocals, using noise and texture as active components.

Sample-rate manipulation and bitcrushing take recordings into unfamiliar sphere, while organic instruments are spliced and reshaped until they become something else altogether. Ground noise and static remain present but by not treating those sounds as unwanted by-products, wantedmissingfound makes them musical within the context of the EP, resulting in a minimal, engaging debut EP that embraces the physical character of bedroom recording while using experimentation to turn limitations into new possibilities.

With this release, wantedmissingfound set out to cut away anything unnecessary, aiming for songs that get straight to the point while remaining catchy. Opened by the debut single “Nature Is Law,” the buzz of synth glides and stutters to form an intricate sound before the jumpy rattle of percussion enters to inject lively energy. Stacked with fuzzy distortion and tinged with delicate melodies which puncture the cacophony of noise, the track shifts in the final moments with bright acoustic guitar notes, offering a stellar display of wantedmissingfound’s creativity and thoroughly original sound.

“Low” lays down a track instilled with contrast, where lyrics are straightforward while the upbeat musical setting works against the artist’s experiences with health issues. The sombre subject matter doesn’t dictate a uniformly bleak sound, with wantedmissingfound placing difficult emotions inside a playful sound brimming with 8-bit charm and breezy melodies, creating tension between what the song says and how it moves. “I Drive My Car” arrives with the flicker of looping synth lines while spacey vocal elements glide above, forming a hypnotic sound that builds with driving beats and staccato instrumentation.

“Last Year” leans into a pop-inflected scene, where airy vocal lines hover above the laid back taps of drums and fusion of organic instrumentation and crisp digital aesthetic. “Unknown Blood” jumps straight into an intense soundscape of crunching percussion as shifting synth lines dance above while “The Whale” gradually builds from a quiet intro towards an uplifting electronic burst of pulsing kick and fluttering synth leads before simmering down for a minimal close. With “Coming of Age,” the soft bubble of murky instrumental tones crafts an immersive atmosphere that slowly swells throughout, presenting an intriguing musical moment that’s engrossing in its simplicity.

Closing the release with “Creature’s Lullaby,” the gentle texture of delicate key tones is met by wantedmissingfound’s hushed vocals, combining to deliver an intimate and memorable finale to their debut EP. As an initial artistic statement, Putting Down the Dog feels less like a snapshot of an artist discovering what their music can become. wantedmissingfound takes the circumstances that shaped the past five years and turns them into sound, using warped textures, static, analogue instruments and stripped-back songwriting to create something entirely their own.

Listen to Putting Down the Dog below